Don't Hurt Her
by SnakesAndStones
Summary: Five years after the hundred year war has ended, Zuko and Katara are happily engaged and pregnant. What happens when someone from Zuko's past tries to ruin their happy ending.
1. Perfect

They were walking down the beach of ember island, hand in hand, in a comfortable silence. Zuko suddenly stopped and pulled Katara to his chest and kissed her forehead, with a small smile on his face. Katara wrapped her arms around Zuko's waist and kissed the spot right above his heart. She then rested her head on his chest and she listened to his heartbeat, the constant and steady thumping relaxing her better than anything else in the world ever could.

"I wish we could stay like this forever," Katara said with a sigh.

"Nothing would make me happier," Zuko held Katara close to him and kissed the top of her head. He took a deep breath and chuckled to himself.

"What's so funny," Katara said, pulling away and looking Zuko in the eye.

"It's just," Zuko tucked a piece of Katara's hair that had fallen out of place behind her ear and smiled lightly, "five years ago I was trying to kill you and your friends, I was so lost, and didn't realize how horrible of a person I was, or how terrible the choices I made were. But you've helped me find myself, and now we're engaged and going to be married in three months." Zuko placed his hand on Katara's stomach, which had an almost unnoticeable bump and smiled. "And we're expecting a baby! So much has changed. I don't know what I did to deserve this."

"So much has changed" Katara said, putting her hand over Zuko's. "And it's changed for the better. And you deserve happiness just like every other human being. Just because you've made mistakes doesn't make you a monster. Everybody makes mistake. It's the fact that you learned from them and grew as a person that makes me love you so much."

"You're amazing" Zuko kissed his fiancée lightly. Katara wrapped her arms around his neck and smiled.

"I love you so much," he said.

"I love you, too," she said, "Everything is perfect."

Oh how wrong she was.


	2. Rustles

They were walking back up to the beach house when she heard it, a rustle in the bushes behind her. She turned around and looked for the source of the noise.

"You okay, love?" Zuko said, stopping and looking at her.

Katara turned back around to look at him and nodded her head.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just thought I heard something." She took his hand and started walking towards the house again.

Then she heard it again and this time so did Zuko. He pulled Katara close to him and looked around.

"Hello.. is somebody there?" He said. Suddenly Katara felt a pain in her thigh, she looked down and there was a dart sticking out of the side of her thigh. She immediately felt incredibly dizzy and fell to the ground.

"Katara!" He caught his soon to be bride and cradled her to him. That when he felt a pain in his neck. He reached up and pulled out the dart, already feeling lightheaded. He stood up and got in a weak fighting stance.

"Who's out there! Show yourself!" Zuko stumbled and fell to his knees, the world around him growing blurry. He turned to Katara but she wasn't there. He looked around and saw the outline of a man holding her in his arms.

"Katara," Zuko said feebly, reaching out to her. That's the last thing he remembers before passing out.


	3. Chains

He woke up in a dark room, the only source of light was a tiny window in the corner of the room. He got up and tried to walk over to the window but there were chains around his wrists. He pulled at the chains hard but they wouldn't budge. He groaned in frustration, that's when he heard a small cough. He looked around trying to find when it came from. Back in the far corner of the room, was a beaten and bloody Katara. She was curled up in a small ball, with her wrist bound in rope.

"Katara," Zuko said with a cough.

She looked up and looked into his eyes.

"Zuko," she said weakly, "where the hell are we?"

"I don't know," Zuko said, "but I'm going to get us out of here." He pulled at the chains relentlessly. Katara just stared at him sadly while he thrashed around trying to break free. She had silent tears rolling down her face.

"It's no use." She said, choking out a sob, "the chains are made of tungsten, they're incredibly strong and have the highest melting point of any metal, no firebender has ever been able to melt it."

"How do you know that..?" Zuko asked, looking at Katara. She started sobbing.

"When you were still knocked out, he took me to a different cell, and he- he-"

"Your fiancée was a lot of fun to play around with Zuko." A man came into the room through a door opposite from Zuko.

Zuko look at him and gasped. "No, it can't be"

The man chuckled and stepped into the light. "Oh but it is." He said smirking.

Zuko looked at the man in disbelief, "Father?"


	4. What Matters Most

"Why are you doing this? How the hell did you get out of prison?" Zuko screamed at his father.

"You should've background checked who you hired to guard me better. See, over the years I became quite close with Atsuko. She was always kind to me, one day I confessed my love for her and told her that if she could open the cell door, we could be together, she was a foolish girl. I almost regret killing her." He said with a smirk, proving the last statement was a lie.

"I knew my first duty was to visit my wonderful son, so I got on a boat to where I overheard the guards saying you and your.." he looks at Katara with smirk, "fiancée were, and came to visit you. To my surprise, I found out I am going to be a grandfather. How exciting!"

"Where are we?" Zuko said in disgust.

"We're under the beach house." Ozai said. "You'd really think I'd have this place built without some sort of place to keep my prisoners?"

"You still haven't answered my other question.. why are you doing this?"

"You took away what mattered most to me, so I'm going to take away what matters most to you" Ozai walked over to Katara and picked her up, smiling.


	5. Break My Soul

"Let her go!" Zuko said, pulling violently against the chains. "Get your hands off of her, get away from her."

Ozai just smirked and started pulling Katara towards the door.

"Please, not again, please." She said trying to pull away from him, with tears running down her face.

"Stop, Father, please!" Zuko said with tears in his eyes, "You can break my soul, you can take my life away, beat me, hurt me, kill me, but for the love of god, don't hurt her."

Ozai chuckled, "But where's the fun in that?"

Ozai pulled Katara close to him and smirked at his son. "Maybe I should do it right here? Make you watch while I play with her. Make you watch as I kill her."

Ozai grabbed Katara roughly by the hair and kissed her hard. Katara thrashed around trying to get away from him. But she was no match for his brute strength. She screamed and cried.

Zuko struggled against his chains to the point where his wrists were starting to bleed.

"Let her go!" He thrashed around while Ozai was just laughing.

Ozai looked up at his son, smiling sinisterly while he forcefully takes off Katara's shirt. He grips her hair tighter, pulls her head back and roughly kisses her neck. Ozai wraps an arm around Katara's waist and pulls her closer to him, so their bodies were flat against each other. Katara cried and struggled and thrashed around trying to get away from him but he just tightens his hold on her.

"Father, stop now! Leave her alone, she has nothing to do with this!" Zuko pleads with Ozai still violently pulling at the chains, with tears running down his face. "Stop, please"

"Ozai, please!" Katara says, sobbing. "You already had your fun when Zuko was still unconscious. Just, please, stop"

Ozai just laughed and ran his hand up Katara's back until he reached her bra.

"But we're having so much fun." He laughs and bring his lips down on Katara's neck again and tries to undo her bra. That's when Katara let out a blood curdling scream and gripped her stomach. Zuko could see she was bleeding heavily between her legs.


	6. Seeing Red

That's when Zuko lost it. He started shaking violently and his body was turning red.

The chains around Zuko's wrists started glowing red as they started to melt.

Ozai's eyes widened as he saw Zuko start to melt through the chains.

"Impossible" he muttered to himself.

Zuko took one final yank on the chains and he was free. He pounced on his father and started punching him.

"Never. Touch. Her. Again!" Punching his father between every word.

He wrapped his hands around his father's neck and started choking him. Zuko was furious beyond belief and was seeing red. Ozai reached up and tried breaking Zuko's grip from his neck but Zuko wasn't having any of it. He growled and bashed his father's head against the ground, then Ozai went limp. But Zuko didn't stop. He couldn't see past his fury and kept bashing his father's head against the stone floor of the cell.

He only stopped when her heard Katara crying.

He quickly got up and ran over to her and held her in his arms.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

Katara was sobbing and she shook her head, still gripping her stomach.

Zuko choked out a sob, "The baby.."

Katara wailed and buried her face into Zuko's chest. Zuko held her close stroking her hair, crying silently, as realization sunk in. He just killed his father, and lost his child.


	7. The Aftermath

Three days later

Katara hadn't left her bedroom since that night. She laid in bed crying, refusing to eat. Zuko was worried sick. He never left her side. Sokka was visiting that day and he was sitting next to her holding her hand.

"Katara, you have to eat, you can't live like this." He said with tears in his eyes. "You have us all worried sick," he said, glancing up at Zuko. Katara just stared at the wall.

"Look, I know what you went through was horrible and I don't blame you for being upset and grieving, but you have to eat." She remained unmoving and Sokka sighed and looked up at Zuko and jerking his head towards the door. They both got up and went out into the hallway.

"Losing the baby was the worst thing that could've happened to her. She's beside herself with grief and I don't know how to help her." Zuko said sinking down to the floor with his head in his hands.

"Just keep talking to her. Just keep trying." Sokka said with a frown. "I know my sister. She's the strongest person I know. She'll get through this"

"How can you be so sure about that?"

"I can't, but I have to believe she will." Sokka patted Zuko on the shoulder and went back into the room and Zuko went to get some water.

He stood at the kitchen sink and stared out the window, watching the waves wash upon the beach. He thought back to that day where they were walking on the beach without a care in the world. He wished they could go back in time to when they were that happy.


	8. Simple Times

He slipped into bed with Katara and looked at her sadly.

"I wish I could do something to help alleviate your pain…" Zuko said.

Katara turned around so she was facing him. She moved closer to him and buried her face into his chest and cried.

Zuko wrapped his arms around her and kissed her forehead.

"I can't believe this happened" she said crying. "Why did this have to happen to us?"

"I don't know, my love," he said sadly, "I really don't know"

He held her close to him until they both fell asleep.

The next morning Zuko woke up with Katara still in his arms. He kissed her shoulder and neck and felt her wake up.

"How are you feeling?" He asked.

"I'm okay" she said, "I'm doing better."

He kissed her forehead and cheek lightly. She closed her eyes and sighed.

"Can we go down to the beach today?" Katara asked.

Zuko looked at her and smiled softly. "Of course"

"I need to shower" Katara said. "I probably look disgusting"

"You are gorgeous, Mia bella" Zuko said with a kiss to the forehead.

They got up and Katara went into the bathroom and looked at herself and cringed. She looked absolutely horrible. Her hair was a mess and her eyes were red from crying so much.

She got in the shower and let the hot water relax her muscles. She finally got out of the shower when her fingers looked like prunes and the water had turned cold. She dried off and got dressed and went out to the living room where Zuko was sitting.

"Ready?" He said.

Katara nodded.

Zuko grabbed her hand and they walked down to the beach. Katara sighed.

"Last time we were down here things were much simpler." She said.

"I don't think there's ever been a time when our lives were just simple" Zuko said, looking to the horizon.

Katara wrapped her arms around Zuko's neck and kissed him.

"I love you so much. You have no idea how much I love you." Zuko said looking into her eyes. "We'll get through this together"


	9. Wedding Bells

The day of the wedding.

It was the big day. Thousands of people had shown up to see the Firelord and the water tribe girl get married.

It was the first time in history someone of Fire nation royalty, much less the firelord, married someone outside of the fire nation.

Aang and Sokka were helping Zuko get ready.

"What if she leaves me at the altar?"

"Then I will owe Toph 100 yuans" said Sokka.

"Wait, what?" Said Zuko.

"I'm kidding," said Sokka, "she's not going to leave you at the altar. She helplessly in love with you. Stop worrying"

Toph and Suki were helping Katara.

"I can't believe sugar queen is finally getting married" said Toph with a smile.

"Oh, shut up," Katara said smiling. "I can't believe it either. You now how many people are mad that the Firelord is marrying a girl from the water tribe?"

"Well, they're idiots" Suki said fixing her dress. "Are you ready to go?"

Katara nodded.

First the maid of honor, Toph, and best man, Sokka, walked down the aisle together and then Aang and Suki, then the flower girl and ring bearer. Finally Katara with her father, Hakoda, started walking down the aisle.

Katara's eyes locked with Zuko's and everything else disappeared. Katara knew this is where she should be, where her home was. Hakoda put her hand in Zuko's and glared at him.

"Hurt my daughter and I'll kill you" Hakoda said.

Zuko's eyes widened and Hakoda chuckled and patted Zuko on the shoulder. Katara kissed her father's cheek and looked at Zuko.

The ceremony was short and simple. But Katara and Zuko couldn't be happier together.

The reception was lively and fun and hundreds of people were congratulating them on their marriage.

It was nearing midnight when Katara pulled Zuko out to the balcony and kissed him.

"I love you" she said

"I love you more" he smiled. "Would you like some champagne?" He said offering her a glass.

Katara shook her head "I can't drink" she said.

Zuko furrowed his brow "Why not?" He asked.

Katara just smiled and placed her hand on her stomach.

Zuko looked at her with wide eyes.

"No way…" he said. Katara nodded and smiled even wider.

"I'm pregnant, Zuko" she said with tears of joy in her eyes.

He smiled and picked her up and spun her around.

She laughed and kissed him.

Everything was alright, and it always would be.


End file.
